2010 Election Results

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jillio said:
Yep. They could use a genius level city engineer working on their traffic issues. BTW...I amnot saying am for or against the use of tolls. Just pointing out the fallacy in the arguments against. And the ineffectiveness of the attitude, "I want good roads, but I don't want to have to pay for them with increased taxes or with tolls."
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You know what's funny? The fees you pay for the driver licenses, car registration, plate stickers, gas taxes, etc. All of these are supposed to be used for the maintenance of the roads.

New York has quite a few toll booths and their roads are awful, just awful. It seems like no one know how to keep their roads intact.

However, in Ontario... our highways are quite well maintained.
 
Banjo said:
You know what's funny? The fees you pay for the driver licenses, car registration, plate stickers, gas taxes, etc. All of these are supposed to be used for the maintenance of the roads.

New York has quite a few toll booths and their roads are awful, just awful. It seems like no one know how to keep their roads intact.

However, in Ontario... our highways are quite well maintained.
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Yes. Doesn't surprise me in the least. Difference in the basic philosophy; political, which translates to life.
 
jillio said:
And the gas taxes have to cover employees, equipment, maintenance of facilities, and a dept full of bureaucracy. That is a given in any situation. It isn't something that you get rid of by not using toll roads.
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Adding tolls increases that overhead, so the tolls collected aren't enough for the road maintenance. What sense is that?

The gas tax is included at the pump, so there is no separate facility required for the tax. It's collected and paid just like a sales tax, and most of that process is automated.
 
Banjo said:
LA (or California) is also the only place I've seen traffic lights on the highway ramps. I've never seen that anywhere else.
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And that has the potential to create huge traffic delays and contribute to the accident rate. What does a wreck on an off ramp do to the time factor?:P
 
Reba said:
Adding tolls increases that overhead, so the tolls collected aren't enough for the road maintenance. What sense is that?

The gas tax is included at the pump, so there is no separate facility required for the tax. It's collected and paid just like a sales tax, and most of that process is automated.
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No separate facility required for the tax? Do you think it goes from the gas station directly to the road maintenance dept?:laugh2: It is automated only as far as collection is concerned. Distribution is a whole nuther story.

Many toll booths are automated.
 
jillio said:
And that has the potential to create huge traffic delays and contribute to the accident rate. What does a wreck on an off ramp do to the time factor?:P
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Don't get me started on the wreck on a ramp. Toronto is pretty bad for that.

I was in California for a week back in October. It astonished me how many drivers have no regards for the rules of the road. No turning signals, multi-lanes-crossing, a lot of honking, etc.

What kind of driver education do they have in California? It can't be a good one if no one knows how to drive.
 
Banjo said:
You know what's funny? The fees you pay for the driver licenses, car registration, plate stickers, gas taxes, etc. All of these are supposed to be used for the maintenance of the roads.

New York has quite a few toll booths and their roads are awful, just awful. It seems like no one know how to keep their roads intact.

However, in Ontario... our highways are quite well maintained.
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I hate the roads in my birth province. Apparently we do have the budget to keep it in tip-top shape, but we never see it. Dipping too much into black gold perhaps?
 
Banjo said:
LA (or California) is also the only place I've seen traffic lights on the highway ramps. I've never seen that anywhere else.
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That is pretty common actually. I see them all over. Portland had 2 lane on ramps with a light for each lane.
 
Banjo said:
Don't get me started on the wreck on a ramp. Toronto is pretty bad for that.

I was in California for a week back in October. It astonished me how many drivers have no regards for the rules of the road. No turning signals, multi-lanes-crossing, a lot of honking, etc.

What kind of driver education do they have in California? It can't be a good one if no one knows how to drive.
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I would assume it is about the same as the rest of the country. A subpar course taken before you test for your driver's license...if you want your license at 16. Wait until you are 18, and you don't have to take driver's ed at all. And the driver's test consists of driving around the block, and through some cones in a parking lot.
 
jillio said:
Many toll booths are automated.
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Well, that's true. We do have highway 407 in Ontario. It is a toll-based highway and it's owned by a private company. There is no booth there, they have overhead cameras to capture your plate licenses. I don't use that highway though. I'm too cheap.

It is almost 22 cents per km. You have to pay at least $3.60 per trip if you don't have a transponder. You also have to pay a monthly fee of $2.50 if you don't have the transponder (as stupid as that sounds), and you still have to pay 40 cents (trip toll fee) on top of the 21.35 cents per km.

407 ETR - Tolls & Fees

The government should never had sold it. Geez.
 
jillio said:
I would assume it is about the same as the rest of the country. A subpar course taken before you test for your driver's license...if you want your license at 16. Wait until you are 18, and you don't have to take driver's ed at all. And the driver's test consists of driving around the block, and through some cones in a parking lot.
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Well, come to think of it, New York isn't much better either. A lot of terrible drivers there.
 
TXgolfer said:
That is pretty common actually. I see them all over. Portland had 2 lane on ramps with a light for each lane.
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I've never seen them on the eastern coast that I know of. New York, Pennsylvania, Virgina, West Virgina, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, etc.

I didn't realize it was common in some places.
 
Banjo said:
Well, come to think of it, New York isn't much better either. A lot of terrible drivers there.
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yup. I despised them driving in NJ. Where they think they are? Bronx? :roll:

Yes we NJ drivers are aggressive drivers but NY drivers are just... utterly reckless and irresponsible. They drive all over the road without regard for others and they stop wherever it pleases them on busy road. :roll:
 
Jiro said:
yup. I despised them driving in NJ. Where they think they are? Bronx? :roll:

Yes we NJ drivers are aggressive drivers but NY drivers are just... utterly reckless and irresponsible.
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Damn these Yankees! :lol:

Seriously though, every time I drive in New York, 9 out of 10 drivers don't know how to drive. It's pretty scary. One thing I hate about the toll booths in New York is that there are so many toll booths and once you are done, all of them have to merge into 2 lanes from 6 or 8 lanes all at once!

What a thrill! :lol:
 
Banjo said:
Well, that's true. We do have highway 407 in Ontario. It is a toll-based highway and it's owned by a private company. There is no booth there, they have overhead cameras to capture your plate licenses. I don't use that highway though. I'm too cheap.

It is almost 22 cents per km. You have to pay at least $3.60 per trip if you don't have a transponder. You also have to pay a monthly fee of $2.50 if you don't have the transponder (as stupid as that sounds), and you still have to pay 40 cents (trip toll fee) on top of the 21.35 cents per km.

407 ETR - Tolls & Fees

The government should never had sold it. Geez.
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Privatization always seems to increase the cost to the consumer. We see the same thing happening in our prison system. Quality goes down and cost to the people goes up.
 
When I'm referring to New York, I meant the state, not the city. Just wanted to make sure there's no confusion.
 
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